Generator Rex:  New Evolution
by Feral2K
Summary: A new enemy reforms the Pack, with only Rex and Providence standing in her way.
1. Whole New Ballgame

I do not own Generator Rex, or any of the characters that have already or will debut in the series.

Note: I'm picking this up after Van Kleiss' disappearance in the Amazon (can't remember the episode name, and I really don't want to go on to look it up. I vowed never to go there again) and goes on from there. I'm kind of ignoring what goes on after then, especially if it contradicts what I wrote. Please bear with me.

Forgive the grammar on "the big one". His home region, which will be revealed in the next chapter, will explain a lot.

**Generator Rex**

Whole New Ballgame

"This is _boring_. When am I gonna get to kick more Evo butt?"

Rex was sitting in one of the transport's seats, feet propped up against the seat in front of him. His boredom stemmed not just from the trip, the purpose of which he knew nothing about, but the fact that, since Van Kleiss had disappeared in the Amazon nearly two weeks ago, things had been quiet. Without their mad patron, the more malevolent Evos had gone underground, and less people had undergone nanite activations, leaving Rex with nothing to do. His handler, Six, didn't move from his spot further up the hold, but still managed to be heard despite not raising his voice any more than usual.

"Two days ago, Greenville, Ohio, came back on the map. Considering . . . earlier events, we were assigned to investigate and remove any innocents that might still be stuck there."

"Man, no action? This sucks."

"What, you wanna have the Pack and Van Kleiss tryin' ta take over the world again? Trust me kid, this is _sooo_ much better than playing catch-up with some group a' crazies. It's like Easy Street."

Rex half-looked over at his sidekick, the wise-cracking, gun-toting monkey Bobo. Inside, he knew Bobo was right; a rescue mission _was_ better than fighting Van Kleiss' super-evolved minions, even if it was less exciting. Still, this wasn't going to be a walk in the park by any means; Greenville had been the personal toy chest of Breach, an insane ex-Pack member that liked keeping dangerous things within the town. Hopefully most of them would have cleared out by now, but there was at least one that would probably still be there, and she was definitely _not_ friendly. He'd mentioned all this in his debriefing after his escape from Greenville, but felt the need to remind Six, who would undoubtedly remind the rest of the team in turn.

"We're almost there. Strap in and prepare for landing."

Rex reluctantly strapped in (an embarrassing incident early in his career with Providence had taught him to always do that) and prepared to go back into the belly of the beast. Breach's little nightmare realm had terrified him deep down, something that he had to hide right now. Pushing down the voice in his head that screamed for him to get out while he still could, Rex stepped out of the transport and onto the main street of Greenville.

The reaction to the Providence troops was immediate. Two large Evos that looked like massive scaly rabbits with fangs came tearing around a corner, heading straight for Rex. He activated his Evo powers, generating massive armored fists that he swung, one-two, until the monsters fell. Once he was sure they were down, he laid his hands on them, drawing their nanites out, an act his Providence superiors had called "curing" them. The monsters turned out to be a pair of white rabbits, which bounded off as soon as he was done with them. That had been easy, but these had been simple animals. If he found something with a human intelligence that was still trying to please Breach . . . well, hopefully he wouldn't find any of those.

After half an hour, he had covered most of the town. Fortunately there were no more Evos, although there were several frightened people hiding in buildings. Only one place remained to search. He'd forgotten the name attached to the school, but it was where his adventure in Breach's private nightmare had begun and ended. If the Curator was still in Greenville, she would be there. Walking up to the doors, he felt more than heard Providence agents forming up behind him. Drawing a deep breath, he pushed open the doors and walked in.

He hadn't gotten more than a few steps into the building when the windows started breaking. The troops outside, after hearing his reports of how vicious the Curator was, had prepared gas canisters that would, hopefully, weaken and disorient her. Rex activated a new machine he'd learned to make, an oxygen filter that would keep the gas out of his system. No need to fight her on her terms again; he hated to admit it, but she'd almost beaten him during their fight, and he didn't want to risk that again. Shortly after the gas bombs started going off, Providence agents armed with shock guns started coming in through the windows, ready to back Rex up if necessary.

The Curator was sitting in the same room she'd been in when Rex had escaped from Greenville two weeks ago, rocking back and forth from the gas attack. Rex snuck up on her and laid a hand on her without a single attack launched against him. She didn't even try to resist him curing her, leaving an unconscious little girl sitting on the ground. With her bulk removed, Rex saw another body on the ground, one with an extra set of arms and black hair. Breach, who was apparently not dead like they'd thought, was barely breathing and didn't respond when he nudged her in the ribs with his foot.

"The package is present. Move in to secure. Son, get out of here before she wakes up."

"Wait, what? I don't think she's gonna wake up anyti-"

"Leave, or we will take you down, abilities or not. We have our orders."

Rex was slowly pushed out of the room, too stunned to fight it. As he left, he saw a pair of operatives pushing in a stretcher with an inordinate amount of restraints attached. He had to talk to Six. Six would know what this was about. Right?

"What is this about, White? We weren't told about any sort of capture mission being run."

"No, you weren't. Judging from Rex's testimony, the Curator could communicate with Breach telepathically, and we didn't know if that extended to other beings stored in that dimension. If Rex had known, she might have been able to find out and use that information against us."

Six pinched the bridge of his nose. As usual, White had managed to answer his question without actually telling him anything. A useful ability for a bureaucrat or spy, but not useful when communicating with a field agent. Dr Holiday, their resident geneticist, asked from a different angle.

"But why where you prepared to capture Breach in the first place? All our evidence suggested what little information she had was covered by layers of insanity, and she was suspected to be dead anyway."

"It's simple. We hope to convert Breach to our side by whatever means necessary. With an Evo of that power, especially if we can find a way to induce curing abilities in her, we might be able to turn the tides against the Evo threat."

"You're gonna brainwash her!"

"Not now, Rex-"

"Yes, now! You can't just mess with someone's head like that! It's wrong!"

"Rex has a point. Besides, what if we can't convince her to side with us? What happens when if she goes berserk when we try?"

"We eliminate her, again by whatever means necessary. You may not realize this, but this is a war, and we must win at all costs-"

"So it's join or die? Is this what you did to me when my nanites activated? This isn't right and you know it!"

"Listen to me. Breach is dangerous, more so than any other Evo we've ever encountered. She has proven she can remove whole cities with a wave of her hand, and she's insane enough to do it on a whim. If we can't have her, no one can. Understood?"

"Yeah, I understand, and I'm washing my hands of this whole mess. I don't want anything more to do with this."

With that, Rex turned around and walked out on White and Six. Holiday ran after him, hoping to talk him down.

"Rex-"

"No. I don't want to kill her. In the end, am I just as expendable? Is there some secret plan to kill me if I go rogue?"

"Listen to me. You know more than anyone that I don't like this either, but she's dangerous. Just look at what she did to you. We all know you still have nightmares about your time in Greenville-"

"I'm leaving. No calls."

Rex reached the door he'd been heading to, opening it with a wave of his hand. He generated the hoverbike he used whenever he wanted to get away and rode. He didn't know where he'd go yet. Maybe he'd find Noah. Noah was the closest thing to an unbiased party in this whole mess, and right now he just needed to talk to someone, to get this whole knot of feelings off his chest. He'd rather talk to Circe, but he hadn't heard anything about her after Van Kleiss had shown up in America. Noah would have to do. Behind him, Holiday watched him ride away. She hoped he wouldn't do something stupid, because she had no doubt White would remove Rex if he had to. Her shoulders slumped, and she shut the door as she went back into the temporary base Providence had set up to deal with Breach. Time to go to work.

"-and I don't know if I can do it anymore, if we're just going to screw around with people's heads and lives like that. She's not even _evil_, if you want to get strict about it, but just messed up in the head. Am I right?"

Noah nodded, trying to process everything Rex had said; he'd kind of let it all out at once, and it was hard to absorb that quickly. It took him a moment, so absorbed in trying to figure out the entire situation that he was, to realize that Rex was expecting an answer.

"I don't know. I mean, Van Kleiss was only interested in the really vicious and nasty Evos for the Pack. I know you say Circe was different, but he still pegged her for joining, and she went with him. But Breach . . . I don't think I can side with you on this. Honestly, do you really want to risk another Greenville happening?"

"That's not the point! I'm worried about what Providence is turning into. I mean, what happens if I decide to go rogue over this? Will they send a death-squad after me if I do? What if they go after you for being my friend? Would you be as okay with that as you are with them doing that to Breach?"

"I . . . I don't know. I hope it wouldn't come to that, but-AAAGGGHHH!"

Rex turned to see a faded hand and arm sticking out of Noah's chest. In a heartbeat, he followed the arm through Noah's back and to the shoulder of a girl, faded out and translucent like a ghost. Her long brown hair framed a face devoid of anything but hate. A billowing cloak hung over an outfit that looked like it came off a high-school student from a Japanese cartoon. Lunging forward, he hit the girl in the shoulder. Amazingly, it actually connected, knocking the girl's hand out of Noah, who grabbed his chest with his hand. The girl looked shocked, like she hadn't expected Rex to actually touch her. She drew back her hand to strike him when a familiar voice came from behind Rex and Noah.

"Calm down Wraith. Rex won't hurt you unless you hurt his little friend again. Right, Rex?"

Rex turned to see Circe, just as beautiful as always, standing there with a slight smile on her face, arms crossed across her chest. His first thought was to rush over and hug her; his second was to hit her. His last thought, and the one he went with, was to ask her a few questions.

"How . . . what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"You're not hard to find. All we had to do was wait for you to go off the reservation long enough and then find him." She pointed at Noah, who was still clutching his chest. "As for what we're doing here, well, we're here to keep you from going back to Providence for a while."

"Wha-why? Why keep me here?"

"That's a bit of a long story. Want to keep walking?"

Six and Bobo were the only security personal actually within the room in which Breach was being held; Holiday and the other scientist had agreed that too many people would severely strain their chances of a successful conversion, and really, Six was all they needed to contain Breach if she got out of hand. Not that there was much chance of that; restraints had been placed on either side of every joint she had, and a steady stream of sedatives and tranquilizers were being pumped into her bloodstream to keep her from waking up until they were done. All in all, it was going pretty quietly, until Six's earpiece signaled an incoming communication. He tapped it, and was immediately treated to the sounds of weapons fire.

"Six! Come in, Six!"

"This is Six. What's going on out there?"

"Evos! We don't know how many of them, but they're going berserk! We can't – AAAAA-"

The man's agonized scream was cut off as his earpiece malfunctioned in a small pop of white noise. Six flexed his arms, sliding his swords down out of his sleeves and deploying the full blades. Bobo and Holiday saw this; Bobo drew his guns, while Holiday's eyes widened noticeably.

"What's going on? Why are you-?"

"We're under attack. Get out of here, and take Breach with you. We'll hold them off while you get to a safehouse. Hurry!"

Holiday and the other scientist grabbed the stretcher-table Breach was restrained to and headed for the door. When it slid open, a barrage of spikes shot through, piercing the other scientist in several places. Before anyone could close the door, the source of those spikes, a green person (gender was impossible to tell) with a large lump on its back and a pair of tentacle-like arms came through. The creature that followed it was covered in black hair, though it was definitely female. Two extra pairs of arms sprouted from her back, and long silver hair framed a hauntingly near-human face, aside from the large number of eyes covering the top half. She opened her mouth, and Six felt something hit his shoulder, spinning him around and driving him to the ground. He looked and saw a large lump of grey spidersilk stuck to his suit, throwing off his balance with its mass. Before he could do anything about it, something hit the eastern door, knocking it flying and admitting two more Evos to the room.

The first was humongous, easily seven feet tall and covered in metal hide. His wings (obviously decorative, since nothing made of that much metal could fly without an engine) combined with general ugliness to associate him with a gargoyle. His companion was red and scaly, with horns and fangs adorning his head. Flames licked between his razor-sharp teeth, and a tail thrashed behind him, disturbing the charred lumps that had once been Providence agents in the hallway. The big one saw Six and grinned.

"Well, if it ain't the legendary Six. The girl says you's a tough one, but I think I could rip yunz a new one-"

"We're not faghting anyone. Now, if y'all would be so kand as to let the girl go, we can get all this behand us."

"And what makes you think we're just gonna hand Public Enemy #1 over to ya like that?"

Bobo turned his guns back over to the spider-girl, only to find her crouched behind Holiday with two pairs of arms pinning hers to her sides and her teeth next to the doctor's neck. Even from that distance, Six and Bobo could see clear venom dripping from the longest of her fangs. Holiday used that instant to be noble.

"Don't worry about me! Just keep Breach out of their hands!"

The spider Evo squeezed Holiday's wrist with one of her left hands hard enough to make her wince. Six slowly lowered his swords, gesturing for Bobo to drop his guns; the monkey did so reluctantly. The towering iron behemoth and his scaly counterpart crossed the room to Breach's stretcher; the scaly one looked furious as he looked over it. He quickly ripped wires out of the panel on the side, crossing them in varying combinations until the restraints all sprung open. He then pulled the IV of tranquilizers out of her arm and looked over at Holiday, saying "Stimulants" by way of explanation. Holiday nodded at one of the carts set up near the stretcher. The scaly Evo pulled out a syringe and held it out to Holiday, who injected Breach with it as best she could while remaining in the spider Evo's grasp. The big one hoisted Breach over his shoulder and gestured to the others, who formed up on him. The spider Evo turned so she was walking backwards, holding Holiday as a shield against any attacks from inside the room. Six couldn't do anything to stop them; Holiday was too valuable to risk these monsters hurting her. He held his hand up to stop Bobo, but that wasn't a problem. The two of them watched as Holiday and Breach were carried out off the lab, off to whatever monster had been interested in them.

"-so you see, I just didn't want anyone to get hurt. That's why I came for you."

Circe was staring up at the sky, like she was waiting for something. Rex was stunned. Circe seemed so different from when she was working for Van Kleiss. She was supremely confident in herself and her mysterious allies, and she was right to be. Rex decided to press her.

"So, what happened to you? I thought-"

"After our last meeting, I was . . . lost. I tried to disappear, but someone found me, someone who had more faith in me than Van Kleiss ever had. I was more than just a tool to her. I was a _person_. She wanted me to lead her elite, and once Van Kleiss was gone . . . we're the Pack now, not those overbearing groupies Van employed. We're like family to each other, all of us."

"But why Breach? She's a psycho. Not really the family type, wouldn't you agree?"

"Every family has that one kooky cousin, right? But there's still one more we'd like to join our family. Right, _brother_?"

Rex's eyes almost bugged out of his head. Circe was trying to _recruit_ him? Was that the only reason she'd come personally? He'd thought she still felt something for him, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"So, that's it, huh? You want me on your team? You think I'm just gonna drop all the good things I've done for Providence just because I had a crush on you?"

"No! I-"

"Forget it, sister. You just bought yourself an enemy for trying to use our past like that."

"Rex, it's not like that! I wasn't trying to play you, honest!"

"Save it. He's made up his mind, hasn't he? Can I at least kill his friend now?"

"Bring it, you-"

Rex was interrupted by the sound of a Providence transport swooping down overhead. He looked up expectantly, waiting for Six or Bobo to jump down and take out Circe and her freaky bodyguard. Instead, the door opened to reveal Evos, two of them. The larger one held out a hand, which the ghostly girl grabbed so he could hoist her up. Circe lingered a moment; she looked heartbroken at Rex's choice. She rushed him and hugged him for a second, inhaling his scent and whispering a single word in his ear. Before he could react, she pushed off, grabbing the oversized Evo's hand to be pulled into the transport. The door closed, and the transport shot off to the south. Rex watched it go until a familiar beeping in his ear reminded him that he was still wearing his communicator. He pressed it and Six's voice came over immediately.

"Rex? Are you there?"

"Yeah. Circe's back, and she's got friends. We need to talk, right?"

"Come back immediately, and bring Noah with you. I assume he was with you when Circe met you?"

"Yeah. You think he can help?"

"Can't hurt. Hurry back."

Rex re-formed the hoverbike and held out a hand for Noah to pull himself on with; he did so very reluctantly. Almost before he could get a good grip Rex sped off, heading for the temporary base Providence had set up. Hopefully he could get some explanation for the questions now bouncing around his skull.

Breach was still loopy from all the drugs pumping through her system, randomly starting sentences that she rarely finished. Circe was sitting up front with Firedrake. She entered a frequency into the comm system. Before long a hologram of a hooded being appeared. The robe she was wearing was writhing, like something underneath was moving around. The voice that came from the speaker, in contrast with the image, was melodious, like a singer's voice.

"You have Breach secured?"

"Yes Ragnorra. We'll be home in a few hours."

"And the boy?"

"Just as you predicted. He refuses to leave Providence. He thought . . . he thought I was using his feelings against him, just as you said he would. And, like you ordered, I only gave him your name."

"Excellent. Providence will ponder this overmuch I think, giving us more time to enact our plans. You have done well, daughter. I will greet you personally when you arrive."

The hologram faded, and Circe slumped back. The day had been tough, but everything had worked out just as Ragnorra had planned. _Hopefully _everything_ will run like this._ She looked out the window. They weren't near the ocean yet, but soon they would be. The waves would probably be nice and relaxing before the island. Before home.


	2. Moths To A Flame

I do not own Generator Rex, or any of the characters that have already or will debut in the series.

Note: I'm picking this up after Van Kleiss' disappearance in the Amazon (can't remember the episode name, and I really don't want to go on to look it up. I vowed never to go there again) and goes on from there. I'm kind of ignoring what goes on after then, especially if it contradicts what I wrote. Please bear with me.

**Generator Rex**

Moths to a Flame

"Why didn't you call me! I could have helped-"

"No, you couldn't have. They were too well-organized for you to make any impact on them. Besides, if I recall, you were busy learning the name of our new enemy."

Rex, Six and Holiday were sitting together in a small room, poring over a small mountain of files on all known Evo criminals, looking for any that matched any of the beings that had attacked Providence in order to retrieve Breach a few hours ago. Rex had filled both of them in on his encounter with Circe, though he hadn't mentioned how he'd felt when Circe had tried to convince him to switch sides. He wasn't really ready to talk about that.

"Got one! That poison-spewing spider-woman. Name's Louise Verdona, though she goes by 'Spider Queen' now. She's a twisted little monster, going by this file." Holiday was looking at the pictures, one of a beautiful blond girl and the other of the multi-eyed, black-skinned spider monster. "Set up a huge cocoon in her parent's manor-house, trapped a bunch of kids in there with her family and servants. Four of them were drained almost completely of blood by the time Providence was called in. She broke out about three months ago."

Rex shuddered. He must have had some kind of bad experience with bugs in his past; even though he couldn't remember any sort of incident, the thought of insects or arachnids of any kind freaked him out. To distract himself from that kind of thinking, he picked up one of the files at random, only to find that he recognized the picture from the security footage.

"Hey, this is that massive metal guy! Says he's from Pittsburgh, calls himself . . . . is that really a word? 'Arngoyle', is that it? Is that really how they talk there?" (_Author's note: It really is how they talk there._)

Neither Six nor Holiday answered Rex; they were too busy searching for the last few Evos, hoping for identification on their attackers. It took half an hour to find the next one, the scaly fire-breather. Holiday drew in her breath sharply when she saw the picture in the file.

"Oh, not him." She looked up at Rex and Six, both of whom were staring at her. "This was before I was assigned to work with you two. He was a terrorist in China that the government was hoping to have cured. He called himself Firedrake then. I just don't understand how he could have escaped. The place was practically _crawling_ with guards; he'd have to have an army come to get him out."

"That ghost girl could have done it. She really did a number on Noah, and there's no real way to detect her if I read her Evo powers right."

"_Her_ I'd like to study. The way you described her, she has no outward deformities from her nanites, not even activated ones like the machines you generate. It's very interesting from a scientist's standpoint."

"Hmmm. I'm more interested in this 'Ragnorra' you said Circe mentioned. If she is the next Van Kleiss, we need to get more information on her. Maybe we should try and capture Circe or this Firedrake and get some information on them."

"Go for Circe. Firedrake'll never break, they tried everything in that prison and it didn't do a thing."

Rex yawned, and it was only partly from boredom. He was _tired_, it was late, and he really wanted to go to bed. He excused himself and went off to his room. Maybe this whole mess would make sense tomorrow. At least, hopefully it would.

It didn't. Six and Holiday had nothing to say at the morning briefing, which was mostly devoted to the break-in yesterday. Mostly it was identifying the people that were being considered the "new Pack", most of whom he had already heard of the night before. Rex was beginning to think that this would have been a good day to sleep in when a new topic came up.

"Wait, what? I wasn't paying attention."

"As I was saying," said the briefing agent, clearly perturbed at being interrupted, "there have been sightings of what locals are claiming to be the legendary Mothman, though we believe it's an Evo that looks similar. It's a low-priority matter-"

"What's the 'Mothman'? I've never heard of it before."

The agent pinched the bridge of his nose, but explained at a nod from Six.

"The Mothman is considered an omen of doom by some of the most conspiracy-minded of the American population. Supposedly, it's a man-sized insect-human hybrid with glowing red eyes. It's been sighted in several areas before large-scale disasters, such as the bridge collapse in Point Pleasant in the 1960's. As we said, it's a low-priority matter. Just silly superstition designed to increase traffic to a tourist-trap town."

"We should investigate. I mean," Rex continued once he noticed the looks thrown his way, "what if Ragnorra decides it wants a walking disaster on its side? Even if it's just an Evo, it at least beats staring at files all day trying to find out who Ragnorra is."

The agent looked even more uncomfortable than before, but he had no real argument to keep Rex at the base. Truth be told, he was more useful in the field, where his hot temper and unique abilities could be put to some use. He nodded reluctantly.

"Very well. Six, we'll get you a full situation report before you get into the air. Now, continuing from where we left off . . . "

Rex wasn't paying attention anymore, though it wasn't from boredom this time. Inside, he was hoping Circe and the Pack showed up; he wanted answers, and they seemed to have them.

"Why couldn't we have just used your little friend to get there? It seems easier than flying around in a stolen airship. You're with me on this, right, big guy?"

Wraith was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Providence transport the Pack had stolen the day before, looking up at Arngoyle and Circe while they sped to what she considered the middle of nowhere. Ragnorra had heard of this "Mothman Evo" and decided she wanted it, even if the fear it created was undeserved. If it was the actual Mothman, which was unlikely, they might be able to use it to spark disasters across the country, if in fact it caused the disasters instead of simply being drawn to them. Circe closed her eyes, let out a breath, and explained the situation with Breach to Wraith for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Breach hasn't had the same treatments we've had yet. If she came with us now and Providence captured her again, there's the very real possibility that Rex would cure her, and then we'd be stuck in the middle of Virginia with no realistic way of getting home. Don't make me explain this again, all right?"

She injected a little forcefulness into her last line, with the desired effect of Wraith hunching down a little to avoid Circe's stare. Circe turned back to the window on the front of the ship, seeing that they were almost at their destination. She also saw another Providence transport sitting on the ground outside the town. Her hands flew over the control panel to adjust their landing coordinates. The last thing she needed right now was interference from Rex; he'd probably want answers to the questions she had undoubtedly placed in his head, and she wasn't really looking for a fight.

"All right, we're going down. Someone get Spike out of the back, we're probably going to need him."

Wraith stood up, walking to the door; Circe believed she'd only come along because the transport was one of the few things she could touch without passing through it. Even Ragnorra, who knew almost everything about how the nanites worked, couldn't figure out Wraith's Evo powers. Circe sat down in the pilot's chair, trying to think out a solution. She _really_ didn't want to fight Rex, not right now anyway; he was probably still upset for what he perceived as an attempt to use his feelings against him. Still, it was probably going to come down to a fight. Granted, she had three perfect distractions to throw at Rex and his crew. She just didn't want any of them to get hurt. The door opened behind her, and Wraith came back trailing Spike, the totally silent cactus Evo. Circe turned to face her three teammates. She had a plan, and they would have to do things just right to get it to work.

"Maybe he was right. Maybe there really _isn't_ anything here worth investigating."

"Aw come on kid. I thought you wanted to get outta headquarters. Fresh air, clean skies and no White hovering in the background. Sounds like a perfect day ta me."

"I tell you what though, I don't really want to run into something as ugly as _that_."

Rex pointed up at the statue while talking to Bobo Haha. If there was one thing Point Pleasant had, it was devotion to their regional monster; stores sold Mothman shirts and posters, there were at least three museums devoted to the creature, and a large statue of the monster stood in the middle of the town. It was certainly ugly, and Rex was seriously hoping that the Evo, if that was what it was, wasn't nearly as bad-looking as depicted. Turning away from the statue, he was about to head back to one of the museums to question the locals about the recent sightings when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

It was the ghost girl, Wraith. She was standing in front of a souvenir shop, staring at him as her cloak and skirt blew in the breeze. He stepped towards her, but some instinct told him to throw up a new device, a metal shield he'd developed, and roll to the side. As a result, the barrage of spikes that rained down at him did no damage, instead sticking in the ground or bouncing off his shield. He turned, dismantling the shield as he did, to see Arngoyle and the unnamed cactus Evo advancing down the street. Arngoyle looked like he wanted to charge Rex, but Six jumped in the way, slicing across his chest with his swords. They left tiny slits in Arngoyle's metal body, but it was enough to drive the oversized Evo into a frenzy. Bobo pulled his guns out and aimed at the cactus-man, but he grabbed his head as Wraith punched through it. Rex created his metal fists without thinking, grabbing her around the chest and throwing her down the street head-first. She hit Arngoyle, causing a ringing like a bell being struck. She slumped to the ground unconscious, and was almost trampled by Arngoyle before he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Rex looked up and saw Circe sneaking out of one of the museums, headed for the woods. He had to follow.

His flight engines let Rex hover over the trees while he followed Circe, though he couldn't figure out where she was going. She stopped, her face twisting into the sonic funnel needed to use her powers, and her siren call sounded through the woods, though only a few people in the area could hear it. She was probably using it to draw out what he realized was their shared target. She started moving again, and he realized that she could hear him. Dropping out of the sky, he was hit in the face by something that was moving through the trees. The force of the blow knocked him into a thick branch, which knocked the wind out of him. While he lay on the ground gasping for air, he got a good look at the "Mothman" Evo. It was even more monstrous as the statue, though that might have been because this one was actually moving around. It walked up to Circe, the attraction her call had given it keeping it wary of any tricks she might try.

"Who are you? Why you make head hurt? ANSWER ME!"

"My name is unimportant." Circe assumed a non-threatening pose to calm the Evo. "I want to invite you into my family."

"Have a family. Family scared of me. Don't want me around. Want to go back."

"But . . . your gifts . . . we accept you for what you are-"

"Don't want to be monster! Want to be human, live with humans, not freaks like you and boy. Boy can't fly, girl can't make head hurt like this. Not natural, not us, not ever." The creature laughed, a dry raspy chuckle that made Rex wince. Circe bowed her head.

"If that's what you want, then I can help. Come here."

The Evo slowly worked its way over to her, still wary of any kind of tricks. Rex tried pushing himself up to stop Circe from tricking this poor creature in some way. Before he could say or doo anything, she laid her hand on its forehead. A glowing gridwork lit up on its head, and it began to melt. The claws and wings fell apart like ice in the hot sun, and its unnatural skin and eye colors shifted back to normal. Was this what it looked like when he cured someone? It was weird, seeing it from so far away, but that was what it _had_ to be. She pulled her hand away, and a young man, probably just a little older than Rex might be, ran his hands over his face before hugging Circe in a back-breaking embrace and running off. Rex was stunned, but not enough to notice the skin around Circe's mouth squirming, like she was trying not to form her sonic apparatus.

"What-what did you-how did-?"

"Ragnorra can do a lot with the nanites. I don't like having this ability, but it's necessary. Now, are you going to let me leave now, or am I going to have to fight you?"

Rex stepped aside, and Circe walked past. When she got close enough, he grabbed her right hand with his left and formed a lump of metal that covered both of their arms up to the elbow. She stopped dead, trying to pull her arm free. She didn't look happy.

"Let. Me. Go. Now."

"No. You're coming with us, and we're getting some answers from you."

Circe's rebelling skin began forming the fleshy cone from which she shot her sonic attacks, and Rex did the first thing he could think of: he ran a current through their joined arms. The shock scrambled Circe's thoughts, and thusly her powers, long enough for a pair of waiting Providence agents to hit her with a more powerful stunner, one that knocked her out completely. Rex picked her up and carried her to the waiting transport. He had to be there when they interrogated her. He needed to hear her answers.


End file.
